“M&Ms already has characters based on the other colors in its candy rainbow (red, yellow, blue, orange and green), but until now the candy has gone largely male-centric. Green has been the lone female. Brown will join her, with high heels in full view.”

I suppose we should be grateful she’s not Mrs. Brown and that she’s wearing glasses. I hope with those pumps that it’s before Labor day.

Unfortunately, M & Ms are just another product where female characters are represented as sexualized and in the minority.

Not only do I agree with this, but it goes beyond sexualized images. It’s images at all. Females are 51% of the population, but in cartoon images marketed to kids, except for the pink ghetto, females are presented as a minority. This illusion is dangerous, because we are so used to not seeing females that it seems normal. People stop noticing. Look at this poster for “Arthur Christmas:”

It’s typical of movies made for kids for males to star and to be the majority of characters.

The place where females truly are a minority in America? Leadership positions. In almost all professions women at the top are stuck at 16%. Here are stats on that.

Is there a connection?

Why do you think in imaginary worlds created for kids– worlds populated by singing lions who befriend warthogs, rats who cook, and toys who come to life, worlds where anything should be possible– females are a minority? Why does the lack of females in the imaginary world reflect the same lack of females as in power positions?